Bats to be ‘encouraged’ to exit Kentuck Art Center on their own

Officials to approach Northport City Council on Monday for financial help

The staff at Kentuck is busy moving out of their building on the corner of Fifth and Main due to a bat infestation. They are moving their operations to the Kentuck Annex directly behind the main building.

Robert Sutton | The Tuscaloosa News

By Mark Hughes CobbStaff Writer

Published: Friday, March 15, 2013 at 3:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Thursday, March 14, 2013 at 9:32 p.m.

NORTHPORT | The Kentuck Art Center’s unwanted bats can squeeze in through a half-inch opening. They’ll be flying out on their own, through specially designed tubes, because the federally protected species cannot be euthanized.

Full-grown, little brown myotis bats have a wing span of about 6 to 7 inches, and weigh only a few ounces. Huddled with wings tucked in, they appear roughly 1.5 to 2 inches long, said Adam Owens, production manager with Bama Exterminating, which has been checking out the issue at the Art Center, 503 Main Ave., in downtown Northport.

“They’re so small, you could have one hanging over you, and you might not realize it,” he said. “It’d look like a smudge on the ceiling.”

Some excluding devices, which are basically tubes that allow bats to fly out but not back in, have been set up. But the real work begins Monday, when pest-control experts will start removing the ceiling, cleaning guano and related parasites, such as fleas, lice and bat bugs.

“Bat bugs are very close kin to bedbugs,” Owens said. “The only difference is they have a little longer hair; you can really only see it under a microscope.”

Protected by federal and state regulations, the bats cannot be euthanized or even “harassed” to leave, although some may be removed by hand. Most of the bats will, it’s hoped, fly out through the excluders.

“Because bats are poor fliers — they land with their rear feet; their hands are on their wings — on these tubes they land with their rear feet and can’t get back in,” he said.

Work must begin soon, before breeding season starts. If it was ­determined the bats had already begun breeding, the young would have to be left until they are full grown, probably by August or September. So far, they have not seen any females who appear to have been breast-feeding.

“If there are juvenile, hairless bats still relying on mother for food, you don’t want to exclude mom,” Owens said. “You don’t want to kill the young, but you also don’t want the young dying inside the building. The parasites would leave their bodies and go looking for other food sources, which can be the people in the building.”

“Histoplasmosis is something, once people contract it, they’re stuck with it for life. It can cause a lot of respiratory problems,” Owens said. “Though bats don’t attack like everyone worries so much, there is still a chance of being bit, and contracting rabies.”

When pest-control gets down to it upstairs, the workers will be wearing full-face respirators, “which is not always fun in the heat,” he said.

The board still needs to meet to sign contracts, said Shweta Gamble, executive director of Kentuck. On Monday, she and others plan to go to the Northport City Council’s work session to seek financial assistance.

Previous bat-removal jobs have ranged anywhere from $500 to more than $30,000, Owens said. Last year a project in the old Greene County Courthouse, removing 15,000 bats and 2,500 pounds of guano, cost $22,000.

“It’s not going to be cheap, but we don’t have a full estimate yet,” Gamble said.

Northport Mayor Bobby Herndon stopped by to urge Kentuck staff to make a case for financial help before the City Council.

“What I recommended was that they come to the work session Monday night, come in with some facts and figures,” he said. “Kentuck is a vital part of our community, and I know they are on a very tight budget, and it’s a nonprofit organization.

“I’d like to see the city contribute some to the cleanup and restoration.”

Meanwhile, staff and volunteers are moving gift shop items and office furniture and equipment to the adjacent Georgine Clarke Building, where they plan to operate business as usual, as much as possible. Saturday’s Kentuck for Kids event, to be held in the courtyard, is still on for noon-­3 p.m, and the April 4 Art Night is also happening.

Kentuck studio artist Lorrie Lane, who’s been helping in the move, has some experience with the problem. Bats infested her small studio and gallery space, downtown by the Northport post office, back in 2007.

“I kept seeing all these droppings, and I was looking for mice,” she said. “Then one day in July there were bats flying around inside the gallery.”

She contacted an animal-­control company, which told her they couldn’t be removed until breeding season ended.

“I said, ‘Forget the lease; I’m gone,’ ” she said, laughing. That move took her, ironically, to Kentuck, although her current space is not among those affected.

Many species of bat are protected because they’re beneficial animals, as huge consumers of mosquitoes. The state statute on non-game species regulation, which covers dozens of fish, reptiles, amphibians, birds and mammals, reads in part: “It shall be unlawful to take, capture, kill, or attempt to take, capture or kill; possess, sell, trade for anything of monetary value, or offer to sell or trade for anything of monetary value, the following non-game wildlife species (or any parts or reproductive products of such species) without a scientific collection permit or written permit from the Commissioner, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, which shall specifically state what the permittee may do with regard to said species.”

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